Michael Jackson’s Luminograms Capture Abstract Displays of Light

Michael Jackson is a British artist currently exploring the luminogram process to capture monochromatic, abstract displays of light. For those who aren’t familiar, luminograms are images created by exposure of photosensitive materials to light without the intervention of an object. “No camera, no film, no objects – just light directed onto light sensitive paper in the darkroom,” explains Jackson.

Photographic theorist Gottfried Jäger once described luminograms as “the result of pure light design; the rudimentary expression of an interaction of light and photosensitive material… a kind of self representation of light.” Borrowing those words from Jäger, Michael Jackson is debuting his latest luminogram series entitled “The Self Representation of Light” today at MMX Gallery in London.

Jackson’s exhibit will feature 20 examples of his unique selenium toned silver gelatin prints, which he spent a year perfecting. “My work is based upon the idea that there is a universality between all things. There is no difference between an image of a gull and of a luminogram made purely of light. Both are the final result of decisions made from ones experience of life – they are all connected,” he shares.

“They offer a different kind of world to the one we are used to – an abstract world that still holds one foot in reality. Working with luminograms is a time consuming process – there are just so many variables. These are a selection of the many hundreds of studies created to try and understand this wonderful process.” As he says, it’s as close as he can get in photography to painting.